Johnson named visiting fellow at Cambridge

Flagler College Professor of Religion Timothy Johnson will head to Cambridge University in June as a Visiting Fellow.

“I have collaborated with a colleague at Cambridge University, Dr. J.P. Michael Robson, over the years on a number of projects including the ‘Cambridge Companion to Francis of Assisi,’” said Johnson, who also serves as the chair of the liberal studies department. “In the course of our efforts he extended a gracious invitation to come to Cambridge and nominated me for a Visiting Research Fellowship.”

Johnson’s research at Cambridge will study various medieval stories about Francis of Assisi that were read during rituals of public worship. Johnson said studying these stories can help understand which images of Francis were deemed most important to specific audiences and why.

“I was delighted to accept the position because it allows me access to manuscripts, academic studies, visual images and architectural sites that are essential to my exploration of identity construction in those medieval Franciscan communities which were formed by common liturgical texts and shared places of worship,” said Johnson.

The project, which is supported by the Flagler College Kahler Endowment for the Teaching of the Liberal Arts Fund, is in collaboration with Jacques Dalarun of IRHT in Paris and Marco Bartoli of LUMSA in Rome.